Vietnamese Laud Improved Relations with US, Tentative on Biden

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM - A handful of Vietnamese interviewed during U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recent visit here expressed support for the apparently warming relations between the two countries.

Austin met with Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc during his visit, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Vietnam and Singapore this month on a trip, the White House said, during which she “will engage the leaders of both governments on issues of mutual interest, including regional security, the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and our joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order.” Thanh Thanh, who studies international relations in Hanoi, said that in the 25 years since normalization, Vietnam-U.S. relations have generally been stable and developed, and said she expected that to continue. “In the context of Vietnam and Southeast Asia in general playing an important role in the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, I think, looking forward, the two countries will continue to try to maintain peace to ensure the interests of both sides,” she told VOA on July 29.